Archives

Blogroll

Just another WordPress.com weblog

Last swim lesson of the season

Yesterday was the last swim lesson of the season for both boys. The summer lessons at the rec center don’t meet at a time that works for our family, so unless I find an alternative that does fit, they won’t get to resume swim lessons until late September. Tobin will be very sad because he just loved his swim lessons. Stephen on the other hand is very happy they are over because he hasn’t gotten what he’s wanted to out of the lessons the last few sessions.

Steve and Tobin posing before heading into the water for their last swim lesson of the spring

This spring was Tobin’s first time through level 1 classes. He had previously taken baby and preschool classes but those were more water orientation than real beginner swim lessons. Although he hasn’t passed on to level 2 yet, the little guy made quite a bit of progress this session. He learned to float on his back, doggy paddle, and push off from the side of the pool. Unfortunately, Tobin has decided those few skills are enough to qualify as actual swimming, so he tries to practice on his own when the instructors are working with the other kids. This wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for the fact that he is too short to stand in the water and still keep his head above water! He appears to have absolutely no fear of the water, so Ken and I spend just about every minute of his swim lessons biting our nails and edging closer and closer to the pool “just in case.”

Blowing kisses to me from the pool

Stephen passed on to level 4 swimming several sessions ago. However, he isn’t interested in learning dives or swimming in deep water, so he has been repeating level 3 which is supposed to be swim stroke development. His person goals for swimming are to build up his stamina and perfect his swim strokes, but the instructor for the current session spent a lot of time having the kids practice diving. For example, today the instructor only had the kids swim two laps in the whole 45 minute class. I don’t think she ever went over any swim strokes other than the front and back stroke all spring long either. Stephen was very disappointed with the whole experience. In the future, I will probably need to arrange for private lessons for him.